Sunday Legislation and Religious Liberty
The observance of Sunday is a religious exercise, and therefore for Congress to require anybody or anything to observe Sunday is just as offensive and repugnant to American principles as it is for Congress to require "the holding of devotional exercises and sacred concerts." This fact does not seem to have been sufficiently appreciated in the discussion in the Senate even by those who opposed the Sunday-closing amendments. Public men are not as sensitive to the violation of principle on this point of Sunday legislation as they are on other points that are of exactly the same character. The retention of Sunday laws in American legislation is largely responsible for this.